Man ‘Intimately Linked’ to Hairstylist Jax Gratton Indicted in Death Probe as Chilling Details Emerge

A grand jury has indicted a 44-year-old man in connection with the death of Jax Gratton, a Denver-based hairstylist. Gratton, a 34-year-old transgender woman, was reported missing after she did not return home on the night of April 15, 2025. Two months later, her body was found in a locked alleyway.

Authorities have now arrested and indicted Brandon David Mumma on the charges of tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. Mumma was in a consensual intimate relationship with Gratton and was allegedly the last person to see her alive.

Gratton left her Denver apartment on April 15, 2025, around 10 p.m. local time, after telling her roommate that she would be back in three hours. She never returned. According to court documents, Gratton went into an office building in Lakewood with Mumma that night.

The two were soon joined by a male friend. Mumma and the other friend allegedly left the building at 1:43 a.m. on April 16, while Gratton was under the influence of drugs and slept at the office space. Prosecutors said surveillance footage showed Mumma entering the building again around 6 a.m., discarding trash bags in a dumpster, and leaving the premises around 7 a.m.

Meanwhile, Gratton was reported missing, and authorities conducted a search for her. On June 6, 2025, her body was discovered in an alleyway beside the same building where she had slept. A second-story air conditioning unit grate was found resting on her lower body.

Mumma has been accused of removing her body and belongings from the building in an effort to evade law enforcement. The other male friend has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The cause of Gratton’s death has not been determined because of the decomposition of her body. It is not yet clear whether she fell from the building or was pushed.

"If her body fell from the second-story window of the room where [she was] last reportedly seen alive, autopsy cannot determine whether she was pushed, fell or jumped from the window while alive, or was dropped from the window after death,” an autopsy report from the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office read.

Mumma has not been charged with murder. He was presented before First Judicial District Court Judge Jason Carrithers on March 13. The accused appeared without an attorney, as a public defender had been removed from his case due to a conflict. He is currently being held at the Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 cash bond.

Mumma’s next court hearing is scheduled for March 17. Meanwhile, Gratton’s family members said they had never heard his name before the victim’s death. Z Williams, a victim advocate working with Gratton's family, said in a statement, “After having done her rosary, her celebration of life, hosted multiple vigils, and met with many people who love Jax from all of her different communities, no one has ever heard this name.”

The family has also expressed disappointment over the way the investigation was conducted. “Justice for Jax is an ongoing fight ... it does not start or end with this court date. Many, many missteps were made from the moment that she was reported missing to when she was found dead,” Williams said.